If you’re still procrastinating your holiday cigar shopping, it’s time to get off your duff! To save on shipping and get your goodies in time for Christmas, place your Thompson Cigar order by noon EST on December 19th and choose Standard Shipping. Orders placed by noon EST on December 22nd will need 2nd Day Air to reach you in time. Orders placed by noon EST on December 23rd will have to be shipped Next Day Air to squeak in underneath the tree and keep you off the naughty list. So, save yourself some cash and some stress and order those stogies before the cutoff!

Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the troops at the 6th Annual Thanks Troops Golf Classic held at the majestic Crescent Oaks Golf Club!

For six years running, Thompson has had the pleasure and the honor to sponsor this event. Everyone had a great time (if not a great game!) and also contributed to a noble cause – supporting our veterans. The proceeds from the tournament go to the “Tee It Up for the Troops” foundation which provides support for disabled U.S. Military Veterans.

Different cigar manufacturers like Hammer and Sickle, Victor Sinclair, Rocky Patel, Altadis USA, and many others, each sponsored a hole on the course. Various donors also generously donated rare sports memorabilia, including autographed plaques from legendary figures like Bubba Watson, Ted Williams, and Joe DiMaggio, to be auctioned off for the cause.

I should also mention that this was not your average day on the course… We had skydivers from Skydive City drop in with a 1,500 square-foot American flag, the popular Golf Today Long-range Launcher that shot golf balls over 400 yards with the squeeze of the trigger, and also a couple of alligators and turkeys by Hole 4 that came to join the party! If you’re interested in joining us for some fine smokes, good golfing, and great patriots, visit http://www.teeitupforthetroops.org for info on next year’s event.

Your chances at winning $100,000, an all-expenses paid trip to
Vegas, and/or a 2014 muscle car? Well, that depends on how many people enter. But I can tell you your chances if you DON’T enter – zero. Macanudo is really stepping up their game with this giveaway. All you have to do is buy a box of delicious Macanudo cigars to be entered. You were going to buy cigars anyways, right? Might as well take advantage while you can. Someone has to win – your chance is just as good as anyone else’s. Worst case scenario is you’re just left with a nice box of Macanudo. Best case scenario is you’re sitting on your front porch, smoking one of your Macanudo’s while reading the mail and find out you won! See Official Rules for more details. Good luck everybody!

Cigar samplers are always fun to buy. Even though you know which sticks are going to arrive in the sampler, there’s always a few that you have never tried. It’s fun to compare those with our favorite everyday sticks and well known, premium cigars. It’s also a good feeling to know that the humidor is going to receive a nice variety of sticks. Some are different sizes, come from different cigar makers, and showcase different types of wrappers. However, another nice thing about samplers is related to their price. Buy a sampler and you typically end up spending a lot less on premium smokes. It gives you a chance to try some top shelf sticks without breaking the cigar budget while other samplers are just fine cigar deals in every sense.

To find the best deals on samplers, visit the Value Cigar Samplers page. This is where you will find several excellent assortments of cigars for very good prices. For example, recently, the World Class 20 Sampler has been on sale for less than $30. That’s four brands of 20 fine cigars for less than half of the regular price. The same can be said of the Victor Sinclair Super Selection 15 Cigar Sampler. Buy that assortment and pay less than a third of the regular price for premium Victor Sinclair smokes.

Many an aficionado loves to spend time in the great outdoors. We take fishing trips out on the open sea, wade remote streams in search of trophy trout, and even go ice fishing in the dead of winter. We also walk the woods and fields in search of quail, rabbits, and other small game, spend hours in a tree stand to wait for that big buck to show itself, and go on big game hunts in Alaska. We also enjoy the great outdoors by camping and visiting national parks with the family but no matter how we enjoy the outdoors, we like to highlight the experience with some great cigars.

A smoke that is tailor made for the outdoors is the good old Backwoods cigar. Those sweet little smokes do indeed seem to taste better when you can enjoy them at a cabin in the woods, when enjoying the view of a quiet lake in the middle of the woods, while bass fishing on your favorite pond, bayou, or reservoir, or after chopping firewood in the backyard. The Backwoods Maduro Sweet Cigarillo is one of those classic little sticks that makes every trip to the great outdoors that much better. Aficionados who enjoy the great taste of fermented tobacco with a hint of honey and berry flavors will like the Backwoods Maduro Honey Berry Cigarillo.

Find great deals on Backwoods Cigars and hundreds of other cigar brands at Thompson Cigar today.

Those of us who enjoy smoking cigars don’t just partake in the experience because we enjoy fine, fermented tobacco. We also smoke cigars because we relish the experience of testing and tasting the subtle difference in flavors that come from different types of tobacco and wrappers. We enjoy inspecting cigars and noting the quality of their construction, and focusing on the difference between the start, sweet spot, and end of the cigar. These are a few of the reasons why it’s important to enjoy cigars the right way and that procedure includes:

Choosing the best cigar for the moment: Pick a mild stick for the morning, medium-bodied smoke for the afternoon, and full-bodied cigar for the evening. It might be an everyday smoke or premium cigars for special situations.

Inspecting and cutting the cigar: After checking and appreciating the construction of the stick in question, carefully snip off the tip with a quality cigar cutter. It’s important to use cigar cutters and not a knife or scissors because the cutter results in the type of good, even cut necessary for properly enjoying the cigar.

Lighting and smoking it: Use proper cigar lighters to evenly light the end of the stick and then casually smoke it with enough time to savor the fine flavors.

It’s always a good day when you can relax with quality cigars after a delicious lunch or excellent dinner. On such occasions, you don’t want to smoke the same mild mannered Connecticut as you did during a morning of golf or after going for a morning walk. The afternoons and evenings call for fuller-bodied cigars that match the palette and one of the best smokes for the latter half of the day is a fine, robust Toro. Those fat sticks seem to be especially satisfying after a long day of work or travel and when they incorporate high quality tobacco, they are absolute, end of the day treasures.

One of the finest samplers of Toro treasures is the Montecristo Connoisseur Edition. This very fine assortment of cigars includes 8 big gauge, fantastic Toros made from limited small batch tobaccos. Each one has a medium to full body and is a beautiful, carefully crafted stick that could easily be reserved for special events. Buy this premium sampler and you get 2 each of four different boutique sticks that are crafted from choice Dominican tobaccos. Each is also named after different American cities or states to reflect their character. Sample the Texas Toro, light up a Las Vegas Toro during an evening at the casino, and compare the fine flavors of the New York and Chicago Montecristo Toro Cigars.

Would you like to put a smile on the face of a fellow aficionado? If so, then give that special person a fine sampler that showcases some of the best in Nicaraguan cigars. That exquisite selection of smokes is the Perdomo 20th Anniversary Sun Grown Sampler and once you get a look at the fine cigars inside, you will probably also want to buy one of these quality cigar gifts for yourself. The five cigars in this sampler were made to mark 20 years of creating quality smokes and you will realize that Perdomo is serious about celebrating the occasion as soon as you take a draw on any of the five sticks inside.

The premium cigars in this sampler are only crafted with very select tobacco grown in the rich volcanic soils of Nicaragua. The combination of excellent growing conditions and expertise of the Perdomo family results in cigars that showcase a wonderful array of flavors and a present truly fine cigar smoking experience. Each of the fine sticks in this gift sampler are Nicaraguan puros that come wrapped in tantalizing sun grown leaf for an extra bit of flavor. However, they don’t use just any old sun grown wrapper but leaf that has been carefully aged for more than a year in bourbon barrels. That aging process puts the final crowning touch on these high quality cigars and helps turn them into a fantastic gift for friends and yourself.

Every aficionado is always on the lookout for the very best in cigars. Those of us who have been searching for premium cigars for many a year have realized that cigars of the highest quality tend to show certain characteristics lacking in other smokes. A few of the things to look for in high quality sticks include such factors as:

Rating: Although we can all give our personal ratings to every cigar we sample, it’s worth it to pay attention to the opinions of the best cigar experts in the country. If someone who has tried and tested literally thousands of cigar brands says that a particular cigar merits a rating of 96, then that smoke is going to be one of the best you have ever had. At least that’s what many aficionados have said about the 96 rated Flor de Antillas Toro Sun Grown.

Smoking experience: The very best in cigars are going to exhibit an excellent experience from start to finish. There isn’t any waiting for the stick to show flavors with the best smokes because they taste wonderful with every draw. The 91 rated Arturo Fuente Hemingway Short Story is a good example of one such cigar.

Presentation: Although it’s a combination of what’s inside and outside that counts, the best in quality cigars are also going to look like works of art. They only use beautiful, flawless wrappers and are rolled by expert hands.

Once you start smoking cigars, you quickly realize that there aren’t just a dozen or so brands to choose from. While there might have been a few cheap cigars available at a local service station, those were just the tiniest tip of the iceberg. There are of course, hundreds of brands of cigars, some of them made by machine, many made by hand, and others that have been infused with the fine flavors of vanilla, rum, and cherries. With so many smokes to try, it can be tough to find a good everyday smoke, premium cigars for the best prices, and cigars to stay away from. Try the following duo of ideas and you will be on the fast track to enjoying cigars as every aficionado should:

Join the Thompson cigar of the month club: Sign up for the Cigar Tour Sampler and you will get several premium cigars each month. We pick out the cigars to sample and savor and provide information about each stick in a monthly newsletter. You also enjoy free shipping and a free cigar cutter with the first month’s sampler.

Buy cigar samplers: Samplers are perfect for the new aficionado because they make it possible to try several brands and types of cigars for a great price. Buy a different sampler each month to quicken your enjoyable cigar education. The All Star VI Sampler is a good choice for your first sampler.

See cigar expert Al Remp talk about different cigar sizes in this video.